There was an old woman who lived in a shoe,

She had so many children she didn't know what to do;

She gave them some broth without any bread,

She whipped them all well and put them to bed.

Halliwell, James Orchard, Comp. Nursery Rhymes and Nursery Tales of England. London, England: Frederick Warne and Co., 1853, p. 56. No. CCLIII

THERE was an old woman who lived in a shoe;

   She had so many children she didn't know what to do;

She gave them some broth without any bread, 

She whipp'd them all soundly, and sent them to bed.

Old Nurse's Book: Of Rhymes, Jingles and Ditties. Ed. and Illus. by Charles H. Bennett. London, England: Griffith and Farran, 1857. [Facsimile edition reproduced from The Osborne Collection of Early Children's Books. Toronto Public Library by Holp Shuppan, Publishers, Tokyo 1981.] p. 42.

The Big Shoe



"There was an old woman

Who lived in a shoe;

She had so many children

She didn't know what to do:

To some she gave broth, And to some she gave bread,

And some she whipped soundly, And sent them to bed."



Do you find out the likeness?

A portly old Dame,--

The mother of millions,--

Britannia by name:

And-howe'er it may strike you

In reading the song-

Not stinted in space

For bestowing the throng;

Since the Sun can himself

Hardly manage to go,

In a day and a night,

From the heel to the toe.



On the arch of the instep

She builds up her throne,

And, with seas rolling under,

She sits there alone;

With her heel at the foot

Of the Himmalehs planted,

And her toe in the idebergs, 

Unchilled and undaunted.



Yet though justly of all

Her fine family proud,

'Tis no light undertaking

To rule such a crowd;

Not to mention the trouble

Of seeing them fed,

And dispensing with justice

The broth and the bread.

Some will seize upon one,--

Some are left with the other,--

And so the whole household

Gets into a pother.

But the rigid old Dame

Has a summary way

Of her own, when she finds

There is mischief to pay.

She just takes up the rod,

As she lays down the spoon, 

And makes their rebellious backs

Tingle right soon:

Then she bids them, while yet

The sore smarting they feel,

To lie down, and go to sleep,

Under her heel!



Only once was she posed,--

When the little boy Sam,

Who had always before

Been as meek as a lamb,

Refused to take tea,

As his mother had bid,

And returned saucy answers

Because he was child.



Not content even then,

He cut loose from the throne,

And set about making

A shoe of his own;

Which succeeded so well,

And was filled up so fast,

That the world, in amazement,

Confessed, at the last,--

Looking on at the work

With a gasp and a stare,

That 't was hard to tell which

Would be best of the pair.



Side by side they are standing

Together to-day;

Side by side may they keep

Their strong foothold for aye:

And beneath the broad sea,

Whose blue depths intervene,

May the finishing string

Lie unbroken between!

Whitney, Mrs. A. D. T. Mother Goose for Grown Folks. Illus. by Augustus Hoppin. New, Revised and Enlarged Edition. Boston, MA: Houghton, Mifflin, 1883, pp. 65-69. [Originally published in 1882]

There was an old woman who lived in a shoe, 

She had so many children she didn't know what to do; 

She gave them some broth without any bread; 

She whipped them all soundly and put them to bed. 

The Nursery Rhyme Book. Lang, Andrew, Ed. Illus. by L. Leslie Brooke. London, England: Frederick Warne, 1897, p. 158.

There was n old woman, who liv'd in a shoe,

She had so many children she didn't know what to do.

She gave them some broth without any bread,

She whipt them all soundly and put them to bed.

The Only True Mother Goose Melodies: An Exact Reproduction of the Text and Illustrations of the Original Edition Published and Copyrighted in Boston in the Year 1833 by Munroe & Francis. Inroduction by Rev. Edward Everett Hale. Boston, MA: Lee and Shepard, 1905, p. 42.

You know the old woman

Who lived in a shoe?

And had so many children 

She didn't know what to do?



I THINK if she lived in

a little shoe-house--

That little old woman was

surely a mouse!

Potter, Beatrix. Appley Dapply's Nursery Rhymes. London, England: Frederick Warne, 1917, pp. 25, 27.

There was an old woman who lived in a shoe, 

She had so many children she didn't know what to do, 

She gave them some broth without any bread; 

She whipped them all soundly and put them to bed. 

The Annotated Mother Goose: Nursery Rhymes Old and New. Baring-Gould, Willam S. and Ceil Baring-Gold, Comps. New York: Bramhall House, 1962, p. 85. No. 87

The Old Couple Who Lived in a Shoe



There was an old couple who lived in a shoe,

They had so many children they didn't know what to do.

So they gave them some broth and some good whole wheat bread,

And kissed them all sweetly and send them to bed.

There's only one issue I don't understand.

If they didn't want so many why didn't they plan?

Father Gander [Douglas W. Larche]. Father Gander Nursery Rhymes: The Equal Rhymes Amendment. Illus. by Caroline [Caroline M. Blattel-Britton] Santa Barbara, CA: Advocacy Press, 1985, p. 16.

That was an old woman, 

Who lived in a shoe.

She had so many children

She didn't know what to do.

She gave them some broth

Without any bread.

She whipped them all soundly 

And sent them to bed.

But early next morning,

As children awake

She gave each a breakfast

Of sweet milk and cake.



And then the old woman

Without a delay

Just kissed them all fondly

And sent them to play.

Hickey, Dr. Mother Goose & More: Classic Rhymes with Added Lines. Illus. Marissa Moss. Oakland, CA: First Additions Press, 1990, pp. 18-19.